Fire-curtain.



PATENTED JULY 5, 1904L C. E. UNGAPHER & A.'ANDRUS.

PIRE GURTAIN. APPLICATION FILED IEB. 11. 1904.

N0 MODEL.

Patented July 5, 1904.

PATENT Orricn.

CLARENCE E. UNCAPHER AND ALDEN ANDRUS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FIRE-CURTAIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 764,083, dated'J'nly 5,1904. Application led February 1I, 1904. Serial No. 193,163. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom. it may concern: l

Be it known that we, CLARENCE E. UNGA- PHER and ALDEN ANDRUS, citizensof the United States, residing' at Chicago, in the county of Cook andState of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fire-Curtains, of which the following is a specification. 1

Our invention pertains to that class of lirecurtains designed moreparticularly for preventing the passage of fire from a stage to anauditorium, and vice versa; andfit has forits object to provide acurtain which by virtue of its construction is adapted to form aneffective barrier to flames, gases, and heat and yet is susceptible ofbeing handled-z'. e., lowered and raised-with facility.

The invention will be fully understood from the following descriptionand claims, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,forming part of this specification, in whicl Y Figure l is a rearelevation of so much of the fire-curtain constituting thepreferredembodiment of our invention as is necessary to illustrate theconstruction of the same. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section, on anenlarged scale, illustrating two sections of the curtain. Fig. 3 is anenlarged broken horizontal section taken in a plane between two sectionsof the curtain, and Fig.V 4 is a detail View illustrating a modifiedconstruction adapted for small curtains.

' Referring by letter to the said drawings, and more particularly toFigs. 1 to 3 thereof, A A are upright guides designed to be fixed atopposite sides of a stage-opening and having central body portions a andhook-shaped lianges The said guidesfare preferably of malleable iron,but may obviously be of any other material capable of resisting theaction of fire without involving departure from the scope of ourinvention. B is our novel curtain, which is peculiar and advantageous inthat when lowered it forms an air-chamber, the said chamber being formedof material capable of resisting the action of fire and being thereforecalculated to preclude the passage of flames, gases, and heat from astage to an auditorium or from an auditorium to a stage. The saidcurtain is also advantageous in that it is formed of sections connectedtogether in a hinged manner and arranged to rest one above the otherwhen the curtain is lowered after the mann er shown in Figs. l and 2.The sections hinged or flexibly connected together permit of theconvenient disposition of the curtain when the same is raised a'. e.,permit of the curtain being carried into a horizontal or approximatelyhorizontal holder or rolled up, as desired. The sections are lettered C,and in the present and preferred embodiment of our invention eachcomprises two thicknesses of asbestos or other fireproof material o (Z,an inner covering c, of light sheet-iron, having bends f, receiving theupper and lower edges of the inner thickness l of asbestos, an outercovering g, having bends L, receiving the upper and lower edges of theouter thickness c of asbestos, and also having additional bends c',strips j of asbestos or other fireproof material arranged in the saidadditional bends z' and extending beyond the bights of the bends It, asclearly shown in Fig. 2, and hinge members v, connected to the innercovering e and having tongues Zat one end and sockets or grooves m intheir opposite ends. Each section C also comprises end pieces a, whichare U-shaped and connected to the front and rear walls of the sectionand are provided with flanges p, designed to move in thehook-shapedfianges of the upright guides A. When the curtain is wideand thesections C quite long, one or more braces q may be interposed betweenand connected to the front and rear Walls of each section, as shown inFigs. 2 and 3.

The construction shown in Fig. 4 is designed more particularly forembodiment in small curtains and differs from the construction shown inFigs. l to 3 in two respects. One of these is an upright guide A',formed lof a bar of iron or other suitable material, and a U- shaped endpiece n', connected to the front and rear walls of a section C', so asto receive the guide A, and having bends r receiving the ends of thefront and rear walls of the section. For the sake of clearness it may bewell to state that in the modified construction two of the uprightguides A will be employed, and each of the sections C' will be providedwith two end pieces n.

In the practical use of our novel curtain the same is raised and loweredon the upright guides, the lieXibly-connected sections of .the curtainpreventing binding, and thereby contributing tothe ease with which thecurtain may be raised and lowered. The said lieXiblyconnected sectionso1' the curtain are also adapted to permit of the curtain being rolledat the top of the stage-opening or carried linto a horizontal supportdisposed in a plane above the said opening and connected with theupright guides by curvilinear guides, which we have not deemed itnecessary to illustrate.

lVhile we have stated two dispositions which may be made of the curtainwhen the same is raised, we do not desire to be confined to the same,since the curtain when raised may be disposed of in other ways withoutinvolving departure from the scope of our invention. For instance, theupright guides might be continued suficiently far above thestage-opening to permit of the curtain being raised on the guides untilit is above the said opening.

When the curtain is lowered, as shown in Figs. l and 2 of the drawings,it forms an air chamber which will elfectually bar the passage o1'Haines, gases, and heat. It will also be observed that when the curtainis made up of flexibly-connected sections the asbestos strips y' of thesections will serve as packing to preclude the passage of liames, gases,or heat between the meeting edges of the sections.

The hinge connections described between the sections are strong anddurable and are adapted to permit of free movement of the sections withrespect to each other. For these reasons we prefer to employ-the said.connections; but we do not desire to be understood as conliningourselves to such hinge connections, as any other suitable connectionsmay be employed without involving departure from the scope of ourinvention.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that while our novel curtainis calculated to eifectually bar the passage of flames, &c., it issimple and inexpensive in construction and is adapted to be installed ina theater or other place without entailing the making of eXtensivealterations.

Ve have entered into a detailed description of the construction andrelative arrangement of the parts embraced in the present and preferredembodiment of our invention in order to impart a full, clear, and exactunderstanding of the same. We do not desire, however, to be understoodas conlining ourselves to such specific construction and relativearrangement o1' parts, as such changes or modifications may be made inpractice as fairly fall within the scope o1' our invention as claimed.

In somecases to afford a more easy movement of the curtain smallrollers' or other suitable antifriction devices may be placed in theguides, thus facilitating the operation of raising and lowering thecurtain.

Having described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is#

l. A lire-curtain comprising a plurality of sections of lireproofmaterial flexibly connected together, and having tireproof packingbetween their meeting edges.

2. A. lire-curtain comprising a plurality of hollow sections oflireproof material liexibly connected together and arranged when thecurtain is lowered to rest one above the other; the said sections beingopen to each other, whereby they serve when the curtain is lowered toform an air chamber extending throughout the height of the curtain.

3. A lire-curtain comprising upright guides, and a plurality of sectionsof ireproof material Hex'ibly connected together and arranged so as tobe guided and held in position by the guides, and having lireproofpacking between their meeting edges.

4. A lire-curtain made up of a plurality of sections hinged or lieXiblyconnected together so as to rest one above the other when the curtain isin use; each of the said sections comprising front and rear walls oflireproof material separated by an intervening space, and end wallsconnecting the said front and rear walls.

5. A tire-curtain made up of a plurality of sections hinged or flexiblyconnected together so as to rest one above the other when the curtain isin use; each of the said sections comprising front and rear walls offireproof material separated by an intervening space, and end wallsconnecting said front and rear walls, and having fireproof packing tomeet corresponding packing on the adjacent section or sections.

6. The combination of upright guides, and a fire-curtain made up of aplurality of seetions hinged or liexibly connected together and arrangedwhen the curtain is lowered to rest one above the other, each of thesaid sections comprising front and rear walls of fireprooil materialseparated by an intervening space, and connected so as to receive theupright guides between their ends.

7. A lire-curtain made up of a plurality of sections hinged or flexiblyconnected together so as to rest superposed when the curtain is in use;each of the said sections comprising front and rear walls Jformed ofthicknesses 0f asbestos and metallic coverings on the same,

and separated by an intervening space, and having on the front wallasbestos packing to meet corresponding packing on an adjoining sectionor sections, and also having connections between said front and rearwalls.

8. The combination of upright guides hav- IOO ITO

covering and bent over the edges of the thickness of asbestos, andhaving additional bends I5 7l, strips of asbestos seated in saidadditional bends, and end Walls connecting the said rear and frontWalls.

In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our hands in presence of twosubscribing Wit- 2O nesses.

CLARENCE E. UNCAPHER. ALDEN IANDRUS.- Witnesses:

H. B. KILGOUR, A. W. SULLIVAN.

